


Individuals, not stereotypes

by cian1675



Series: Free to be (Limitless) [1]
Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Omega Verse, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, hoyeol, myungyeol as best friends, one-sided myungyeol, woohyun is mentioned only
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 07:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9225080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cian1675/pseuds/cian1675
Summary: In a world that is supposedly no longer discriminatory towards the different sexes and presentations, Sungyeol nonetheless felt left out.(Or, the a/b/o AU in which Sungyeol meets Myungsoo's friend, Hoya, years after college by chance, and learns a little more about things that happened in the past.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> There's a very minor mention of a situation that could have been non-con but does not happen in the end.

_Free to be (Limitless)._ That was the name of Myungsoo’s final year photo exhibition. Sungyeol feels a little pathetic to be recalling that now, but he justifies it with the face he spots in the crowd. Hoya. He remembers the guy. How can he not? Hoya had made quite an impression back in their college days. The same can’t be said for Sungyeol and he doesn’t bother waving to the guy lest Hoya thinks he’s a weirdo. Sungyeol’s day has been crappy enough without needing to see an old college mate try to place his face to some faded memory and fail. Holding back a sigh at that thought, Sungyeol turns to pouring himself a new glass of soju instead.

“Sungyeol-ssi…?”

He looks up. It’s Hoya standing in front of him, frowning slightly. The guy must have recognised him then.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

Hoya’s face morphs into a crooked grin. He settles himself on the chair in front of Sungyeol without asking.

“I’m Hoya. We used to be in the same college. I’m a friend of Myungsoo.”

The soju is bitter on his tongue, but Sungyeol thinks he might be getting used to it. “Yeah, I know. I remember.”

Hoya leans back, hooking his arms over the back of the chair. “How’s he?”

“Good, I guess.” Sungyeol turns over a new glass, waves it at Hoya. “Want a drink?”

Hoya eyes the empty glass, then shrugs. “Sure, why not?”

 

 

<< 

 

 

Back in college, Hoya was Myungsoo’s friend. Sungyeol was Myungsoo’s roommate. While Sungyeol knew Myungsoo had a friend named Hoya, he had never seen the guy before because their paths never crossed. He didn’t really care. The only reason why Sungyeol even met Hoya at all was because of Myungsoo.

“Yeol, are you free?”

“Maybe, why?”

“Can you help me with my lighting? I need to get this ready before Hoya gets here.”

He didn’t agree at first, but Myungsoo’s puppy eyes and pleads of “But this is an important project, Yeollie, please? _Please?_ ”got him to change his mind. That was how Sungyeol had ended up adjusting lights more expensive than anything he owned when Hoya walked into the studio Myungsoo had rented.

“Myungsoo’s in there,” Sungyeol had said without looking up, trying not to drop the equipment he knew he couldn’t afford to pay.

“Thanks,” Hoya had replied. He quickly disappeared into the adjacent room.

If Sungyeol had briefly wondered why Myungsoo wanted to photograph Hoya when his theme was about people who break stereotypes, he didn’t ask. Myungsoo was the photographer, the artist. Sungyeol was just a guy scrapping by in acting. Anyway, he had figured then while tilting the too hot lamps that maybe Hoya being sort of short could be reason enough. The guy had seemed pretty alpha otherwise. When Myungsoo later thanked him for his good job on the lighting, Sungyeol had beamed with pride. By then, he had already forgotten whatever little curiosity he had about Hoya being Myungsoo’s photo subject.

 

 

>> 

 

 

“So how are you?” Hoya asks, taking the bottle from Sungyeol’s  hand.

“Hmm. Alright, I guess.” Sungyeol looks at Hoya pouring the drink for him. He takes it when Hoya is done.

Hoya tips the bottle and starts filling his own glass instead. “Is that a generic alright, or an I’m-actually-alright alright?”

Sungyeol raises an eyebrow. “I think most people would consider it rude to ask that.”

Hoya raises his glass in Sungyeol’s direction. Sungyeol pauses for a moment, but then clinks it before he downs the shot. Hoya finishes his more slowly. When he’s done, he says, “Well. You don’t have to answer that, I suppose.”

He really doesn’t. But maybe Sungyeol has been waiting for someone to ask, because he says, “Myungsoo just announced his engagement, did you hear?”

 

 

<< 

 

 

There was one time Sungyeol forgot to tell Myungsoo his evening class got cancelled. When he had returned to the dorm, he startled two people in the room – three if he counted himself.

“Yeol, shit, I thought you have evening class,” Myungsoo had shouted, scrambling up from his stomach. He twisted around, hands gathering the duvet around his naked body.

“It got cancelled,” Sungyeol had muttered. He tried not look at the other person on Myungsoo’s bed when he spoke, but he had already seen who that was (had already seen what they were doing).

“Guess I should probably get out now, huh,” Hoya had said after an awkward silence passed. Sungyeol had to pretend he didn’t notice Hoya putting on clothes or Myungsoo trying to wear his boxers. Minutes later, there was only Sungyeol in his room, with a slightly frustrated Myungsoo.

“Uh, sorry you had to see that. I really thought you weren’t going to be back anytime soon,” Myungsoo had said, an apologetic smile on his face.

Sungyeol tried not mind the fact that in any other situation, he should be the one apologising to Myungsoo for interrupting, so he had joked instead, “Never knew you would be the bottom eh.”

Myungsoo probably missed the fact that that was Sungyeol’s attempt to diffuse the awkward air, because he tilted his head. “Is this because I’m an alpha? You know I don’t care about that.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.” Great, Sungyeol just made things worse when he had been trying to do the opposite. “I just said it offhandedly. You know. A joke…”

Except, Myungsoo is giving him a wide-eyed look, and Sungyeol remembered how much Myungsoo had ranted about how damaging alpha-beta-omega and male-female stereotypes were the whole time he had been doing research for his project, and now he felt like an ass. “Sorry, that was probably insensitive.”

Myungsoo stared at him a little more. But eventually he said, “Never mind. I get that you didn’t mean it.”

Sungyeol was relieved to hear that. A little grateful too. He was about to start his evening routine of making ramyeon when Myungsoo added, in that casual way he often said stuff without thinking, “Also, just so you know, I’m a switch. I don’t believe in all those normalized notions of alphas only topping or what not. Honestly it doesn’t matter to me. I only bottomed because Hoya never bottoms.”

That was more information than Sungyeol knew what to do with, so he dealt with it the only way he knew how. “ _Right_. Okay, now where did I put my ramyeon?"

 

 

>> 

 

 

Hoya stops Sungyeol from pouring himself another glass.

“Is that why you are drinking?” Hoya asks.

Sungyeol laughs. “That would be pathetic. Drinking because Myungsoo got engaged.”

Hoya pries the bottle from his hand and holds it out of his reach. Sungyeol wants to remind him that he paid for it, but Hoya interrupts.

“Yeah, that would be kind of pathetic, but you didn’t really answer my question. Are you drinking because Myungsoo got engaged?”

For someone he didn’t know that well and only happened to see today, Hoya’s too nosy for his own good. Sungyeol sighs, aware that he’s being dramatic, but he’s just a little buzzed enough to not care. “Fine, yes, I’m drinking because Myungsoo got engaged. Now will you pour me a glass?”

Hoya narrows his eyes at him. He does, however, pour some soju for Sungyeol. “This looks like your sixth bottle so I really shouldn’t be helping you get more intoxicated, but I guess you deserve half a glass for being honest.”

Honest. Ha. Sungyeol laughs again. “If I was honest I wouldn’t be here.”

Hoya keeps quiet, pouring the rest of the bottle into his own glass. The measly half-glass of soju in Sungyeol’s hand is finished too soon. He’s staring at the empty glass, when he hears himself say, “He got engaged to an _omega_.”

Hoya’s thick eyebrows make an interesting arch when he raises them, but Sungyeol’s more focused on the words coming out of his mouth. “Myungsoo, the guy who always defied alpha stereotypes and who spent his whole final year photographing individuals who don’t fit into the usual alpha-beta-omega stereotypes. That’s the same Myungsoo who’s getting engaged to an omega. An omega! Can you believe it?”

Hoya doesn’t comment, so Sungyeol continues. “And that’s not even the best part. He’s getting engaged to an omega who’s someone embodying everything a perfect omega should be! Nice, cute, docile, pocket sized –”  

“Now who’s the one stereotyping?” Hoya mumbles, jolting Sungyeol out of his ramble. He looks at Hoya, _remembering_ , and is about to apologise when Hoya cuts in, “Don’t apologise to me. Apologise to Woohyun for thinking that if you want to, but not me.”

Sungyeol’s about to say something in response, but Hoya mutters something in an undertone he doesn’t quite catch.

“What did you say?” Sungyeol asks.

Hoya looks up, expression unreadable. Then, he says, “This has nothing to do with you being a beta.”

                                                                                        

 

<< 

 

 

Beta. In a world that is supposedly no longer discriminatory towards the different sexes and presentations, Sungyeol nonetheless felt left out.

“Are you doing human portraits?” Sungyeol had asked when Myungsoo finally decided on what he wanted to do for his final year project.

“Yeah. I wanted to comment on discrimination and stereotypes that still hurt us even in this modern day and age. Portraits of individuals who don’t fit in the box would be an interesting way to express how each of us is different even if we have the same sex or presentation.”

Myungsoo sounded excited. Sungyeol was too.

“Hey, that’s cool. Who do you have in mind?”

“Hmm?” Myungsoo looked up distractedly. He rattled off the names of two people Sungyeol knew. There was Sunggyu, an omega whose attitude is somewhat hostile and not pleasant at all, unlike how omegas are assumed to be. Then there was Dongwoo, an alpha who was carefree and laughed too much and wouldn’t hurt anything unlike the aggressive image many alphas still sought after. Myungsoo had paused after that, before adding that he might take a self-portrait as well, since his easy-going nature and penchant for skinship didn’t exactly fit the typical alpha stereotype either. And then Myungsoo got stuck.

Sungyeol waited. And waited. But eventually Myungsoo stopped trying to think of names. He pulled his camera strap over his neck.

“Okay, I think I need to find more models. I’m going to go out to see if I find interesting students who are willing to model for my project. Don’t wait to eat dinner with me, yeah?”

Sungyeol had looked up then, two ramyeon packets in hand.

“Yeah, okay. Have fun,” he said to Myungsoo’s disappearing back.

He put one ramyeon packet back on the shelf.

 

 

>> 

 

 

“What are you talking about?” Sungyeol asks.

“This has nothing to do with you being a beta,” Hoya repeats. “This isn’t about your presentation or Myungsoo’s or Woohyun’s –”

Sungyeol splutters. “Who are you to tell me tha –”

“–this is about you not having the courage to confess to Myungsoo when you could have, and then blaming everything else now because he’s happily engaged to someone else,” Hoya finishes.

Sungyeol is speechless.

And then, all at once, the words sink in.

When Sungyeol starts crying, it takes a while for him to register that the ugly sobs are coming from him.

Hoya doesn’t say anything.

 

 

<< 

 

 

In college, Sungyeol’s porn collection was pretty well known. It was more for the sheer quantity he had in his hard drive than the variety, but it was still something. Myungsoo sometimes borrowed it without asking, but Sungyeol figured it was one of the hazards of having a roommate. He never expected Myungsoo to share it with Hoya.

“You only watch beta men with beta women,” Hoya had commented one day when Myungsoo was in the toilet.

Sungyeol hadn’t understood what he meant, until Hoya tilted his head in the direction of his hard drive, and then he was scrambling to explain himself.

“What’s wrong with that –”

“I’m not saying anything,” Hoya had interjected. “I’m just wondering why Myungsoo even watches it. He’s not a beta.”

Sungyeol blinked. He quickly rattled off reasons then why Myungsoo might be interested in beta porn: Myungsoo was progressive, Myungsoo loved people regardless of their gender and presentation.

Hoya nodded, not really saying anything. Sungyeol was glad.

But later, Myungsoo apparently found out.

“Yeol, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have showed your stuff to Hoya.”

“It’s okay. He didn’t think anything weird about it.”

Myungsoo looked a little relieved but still added, “Okay. But you know, if you ever want to talk, you know I’m here for you.”

Sungyeol had nodded, but he knew he wouldn’t take Myungsoo up on his offer. Even if he was going to talk to someone about it, Myungsoo was the last person he would want to explain why he lived a life of celibacy. He didn’t want to explain to Myungsoo, the guy who treated sex as just something nicer than cuddling, why he had a fear of sex after his first horrendous experience with his first (beta) girlfriend. It wasn’t because Myungsoo didn’t know about his horrible first time. It wasn’t because Myungsoo didn’t know Sungyeol was watching all that porn to get over his failed first time so his second time would go better either. It wasn’t even because Sungyeol felt pressured by the expectations society still placed on him to mate with another beta simply because he was a beta. No. It was because Sungyeol was afraid that if he ever mentioned sex and him and Myungsoo in the same sentence, he would unintentionally spill his secret.

He wanted Myungsoo.

 

 

>> 

 

 

“You’re not that drunk, stop leaning on me,” Hoya huffs.

Sungyeol keeps his arm over Hoya’s shoulder but tries to carry his own weight. Unfortunately, he is apparently kind of drunk, because he suddenly wobbles.

“Great. You’re heavy, you know that?” Hoya mumbles once he catches him. Sungyeol doesn’t really care. He’s leaning against something warm, and now he’s getting tired. Sungyeol drifts off into a floaty mood until he’s poked by Hoya.

“Where do you live?”

Sungyeol barely remembers his address, but somehow Hoya manages to flag down a taxi and get him there.

 

 

<< 

 

 

The problem with wanting Myungsoo wasn’t that Sungyeol wanted Myungsoo. No, the problem was that Sungyeol wasn’t good enough for Myungsoo. Sungyeol was just a beta. Sungyeol wasn’t an omega who could mate with Myungsoo (not that that was what Myungsoo wanted anyway, the way he ranted about breaking the norms, but Sungyeol didn’t care). Neither was Sungyeol an alpha who could understand Myungsoo (even though he didn’t need to be to understand him but Sungyeol didn’t care). The point was, Sungyeol was just… a beta. A normal guy.

He wasn’t even that good at being a normal guy, really. He barely got by in acting even when he tried really hard. He couldn’t get it up when he attempted to have sex with his first beta girlfriend. He couldn’t even pretend that he wasn’t secretly upset by the fact that his younger brother presented as alpha when he never did despite having two alpha parents.

The thing was, Sungyeol wasn’t much of anything, including being beta. But neither was he radically different enough to be something special even as a beta.

Case in point, Myungsoo later found a beta to model for his project, and it wasn’t Sungyeol. Sungjong had the body of an omega male, the aggressiveness of an alpha, but he was really just a beta. Who was Sungyeol to compare?

 

 

>> 

 

 

“What’s your passcode?”

Sungyeol clumsily keys in the numbers to his apartment lock, but Hoya is the one who remembers to slide it so the door would open.

“Okay, I got you home. That should be good enough,” Hoya says. Sungyeol looks at him go, but at the last minute decides to impulsively grab Hoya’s wrist.

“Wait.”

Hoya looks back. “Yeah?”

“Can you…” Sungyeol trails off, unsure of what he wants to ask. He had only grabbed Hoya because the thought of being alone suddenly scared him, but maybe he should have thought things through properly before he had done that.

“…are you asking me to stay?” Hoya asks, slightly amused. The corner of his lip is curled up. Sungyeol suddenly finds that very interesting. Then he remembers where he is, who he’s talking to, and he feels like a creep.

“No, I mean. I mean –“

“It’s fine. I don’t mind. It’s late anyway, and I know you won’t do anything funny.”

Sungyeol thinks he should be grateful for that, but he can’t help feeling vaguely insulted.

 

 

<< 

 

 

It had taken Myungsoo a while to find all the models to photograph for his final year project. Sunggyu was the first model, Dongwoo the second, Myungsoo himself the third, Hoya the fourth and Sungjong the fifth. He found girls as well, six of them, but they weren’t anyone Sungyeol knew, so he forgot their names once Myungsoo rattled it off.

“The thing is, I just need one more person,” Myungsoo mumbled, flipping through his notebook.

“Why do you need one more person?”

“Because, if I can find one more beta male, I can have two of each possible gender in my exhibit – alpha male, alpha female, beta male, beta female, omega male, omega female.”

Sungyeol frowned. Something wasn’t adding up in his head. “Don’t you have three alpha males?”

Myungsoo spun around in his chair. “No?”

Sungyeol counted off his fingers. “There’s you, Dongwoo, and Hoya. Isn’t that three?”

Myungsoo blinked at him.

“Hoya’s an omega.”

Sungyeol instantly felt stupid for assuming.

“Oh.”

 

 

>> 

 

 

“Even if you think I won’t do anything funny, surely you should be more careful?” Sungyeol mumbles, trying not to trip as he attempts to find water in his kitchen.

Hoya opens the cabinet for him, hands him a plastic mug. “Just because I’m an omega doesn’t mean I assume everyone to be a threat.”

Hoya doesn’t say the word beta, but that’s what Sungyeol hears anyway.

“Aren’t you looking down on me ‘cause I’m not an alpha,” Sungyeol tries to say, but it comes out slurred. At least he manages not to spill the water he pours into his mug.

Hoya snorts. “I think you’re drunk now.” He takes the mug away from Sungyeol when he’s done. Sungyeol doesn’t protest. Not even later, when Hoya steers him towards his bedroom and helps him to his bed.

“I could be dangerous, you know,” Sungyeol mumbles, a last attempt at something, but then he’s out.

 

 

<< 

 

 

It was near the deadline of his project submission when Myungsoo suddenly dragged Sungyeol to his studio.

“What?”

Myungsoo looked at him, then sat him down on the chair before the camera. “Just. Look at the camera.”

Sungyeol doesn’t understand.

“What is this about? Why are you taking a photo of me?”

“You’re the last model in my photo series,” Myungsoo replied.

Sungyeol was too surprised to say anything.

 

 

>> 

 

 

Sungyeol wakes up with a dull pain between his eyes and a throbbing headache.

“Ughh.” The morning light is too harsh on his eyes and Sungyeol closes them as he tries to get out of bed.

“You deserve that, drinking as much as you did.”

His eyes open. Hoya is standing in front of him, a glass of water and a tab of pills in hand.

“Take this,” he says.

Sungyeol downs the pills, then looks at Hoya curiously.

“You really stayed.”

Hoya looks at him, amused. “I wasn’t going to pay for a taxi ride home.”

Right. Sungyeol’s the one thinking too hard. He chucks the covers aside. “It’ll be too much to hope that you made breakfast now, would it,” he says, almost as a joke, but he stops when he sees Hoya look away. “Wait… did you?”

“I was hungry earlier so I made something. You can have what’s left,” Hoya mutters.

Sungyeol grins. His day is looking up already. Even though the toast Hoya made is slightly burnt (and now cold) and the eggs are runny with bits of shell still inside, he doesn’t mind. Because food is food, and everything’s better when he doesn’t have to make it himself.

“Thanks,” he remembers to say when he’s done.

“Wash your dishes yourself,” is what Hoya replies. And then he’s out of the door, a careless wave marking his leave.

 

 

<< 

 

 

Sungyeol never really figured out why Myungsoo suddenly wanted his portrait for his photo exhibition, but he had gone along with it. Two hours under the hot lights trying to pose naturally and still Sungyeol had no answer. Myungsoo wouldn’t say, evading his questions with “You’ll see later.” Eventually, Sungyeol reckoned that Myungsoo was just trying to spare him the knowledge that he was only doing it because his deadlines were approaching.

(It wouldn’t be because he actually defied stereotypes now, would it?)

 

 

>> 

 

 

Sungyeol regrets agreeing to come to the party. It’s not even an engagement party, just a small get-together to celebrate Myungsoo’s engagement Then again, he has always been weak to Myungsoo’s cute pouts and pleads of “Yeollie, come on, it’s once in a lifetime and you’re my best friend!” but maybe he should have tried harder. Sitting in a corner listening to Woohyun sing and Myungsoo laugh is a little too much for him even on normal days, and Sungyeol’s hangover from the morning isn’t helping.

“Regretting now, aren’t you?”

Sungyeol isn’t sure when Hoya appeared, but he’s in front of him right now.

“This, or the drinking last night?” Sungyeol asks, although he supposes ‘this’ could mean anything, from coming to the party to not confessing to Myungsoo in college in the first place.

“The drinking.”

For a short moment, Hoya’s eyes darken like he wants to say something more. Sungyeol waits. The moment passes, and then Hoya just sits down. Sungyeol shifts to give him some space on the sofa. Myungsoo’s idea to have this party is his house would have been better if his apartment wasn’t tiny.

Sungyeol is content to sip his cola in silence (as much silence as the background music and Dongwoo’s laughter from the kitchen would allow), until Hoya suddenly nods towards Myungsoo’s living room walls.

“You looked good really good in that photo.”

Sungyeol turns to look. The wall has twelve photos hanging, almost like a gallery. He knows Myungsoo had taken all the photos home as they were once his final year exhibition ended.

“I suppose that’s all Myungsoo’s credit,” Sungyeol says easily, turning back to face Hoya. He doesn’t expect the slightly pinched expression on Hoya’s face.

“Do you really think that?”

“Huh?”

“Do you really think it’s just Myungsoo’s credit?” Hoya asks. Sungyeol shrugs. Hoya stares at him, then leans back on the sofa. Sungyeol drinks a bit more of his cola. Then –

“Do you know why Myungsoo chose you as his model?”

Sungyeol is curious. He sits up. “Not really, he never told me.”

Hoya’s head sinks into the back of the sofa, and Sungyeol watches his eyes close before he gets an answer.

“I asked him to.”

 

 

<< 

 

 

“I thought art is supposed to come with captions,” was Sungyeol’s first comment to Myungsoo when he reached the gallery. He might or might not have tried to find the one for his photo to see why Myungsoo asked him to model.

Myungsoo only looked at him with a small secretive smile.

“The point of the photos is that you don’t know who’s alpha, beta or omega. You can’t even really tell if some of them are male or female, which is a bonus, but really. Anyway, the point is that you _can’t_ tell. Captions would ruin that.”

Put that way, the distinct lack of captions by each of the twelve photos sounded very logical. Sungyeol ruffled his own hair. “Alright, alright. I get it.”

“What do you get?” Myungsoo looped an arm around him, excited.

“I get that I don’t get anything,” Sungyeol mumbles, eyeing the photos on the wall. He tried not to notice how Myungsoo was warm against his arm.

 

 

 

>> 

 

 

“Wait. Wha– why?” Sungyeol feels his eyebrows furrow.

Hoya’s eyes are still closed. And then, he says, “Because, most people wouldn’t really care if an omega went into their first heat suddenly in the middle of a street. They wouldn’t try to fight off alphas bigger and older than they are, alphas who think they can tease that little boy who’s suddenly shocked with the fact that he’s an omega and going into heat. And most of all, they wouldn’t have done that for a stranger.”

Sungyeol squints at Hoya. “What are you talking about?“

Hoya’s eyes open, but they’re staring up at the ceiling, not looking at Sungyeol.

“Maybe you don’t remember this, but you saved me that day.”

Sungyeol thinks he would go cross-eyed if he frowns harder. He doesn’t know what Hoya is talking about.

But then Hoya says, “It was in Busan. I was thirteen,” and Sungyeol thinks he might have a faint idea.

 

 

<< 

 

 

Sungyeol was thirteen, on a vacation with his family in Busan. He was heading to the convenience store when he saw a group of guys standing around. Crowding around.

“What’s going on?”

“Mind your own business, boy,” one of them said.

Sungyeol looked up at him. “Why?” It was a genuine question. But maybe they didn’t think that, because someone dragged Sungyeol’s t-shirt by the back of his neck.

“Not your business, Seoul kid. And anyway, we are just having a little fun here.”

It was then that Sungyeol noticed that there was a shorter boy behind the unfriendly guys. His head was bowed, his hands tightly clasped together in front of him. He looked scared.

“He doesn’t look like he’s having fun,” Sungyeol pointed out.

“Shove off.”

Sungyeol was pushed aside, but something didn’t sit right. “Hey, why are you bullying a boy younger than you?”

One of the guys exchanged a look with another. And then a fist was in his face, and Sungyeol forgot why he bothered asking.

 

 

>> 

 

 

“Are you telling me that that fight I got into was with four alpha guys?”

Hoya lifts his head off the sofa to look at him. “You had no idea?”

Sungyeol blinks slowly. He can’t really remember the fight, but he remembers the scolding he got from his mum afterwards for getting injured. “No, I had no clue.”

Hoya looks at him, mouth slightly agape for a second. “Well. That’s… How did you not know? Those lousy alphas surrounded me because they could smell me from across the street. And I could smell them…”

Sungyeol notices Hoya leaving the rest of the sentence unsaid. He’s suddenly glad he had interfered, even if he had no clue what he was doing back then. “Er, I don’t know. Betas don’t have the same heightened sense of smell alphas and omegas do?”

“Even then, betas still have noses,” Hoya replies, tone a little dry and amused. It sounds better than the other one he was using earlier, less vulnerable.

Sungyeol wrinkles his nose. “So I have a shit nose.” He almost adds, _wouldn’t be the only shitty thing about me_ , but he catches himself in time. Sungyeol searches for something else to say.

“So… When did you realise?”

“Realise what?” Hoya asks.

“That I was your _savior_ ,” Sungyeol says jokingly, because that’s the easiest way to go.

Hoya shoots him a dry look. “I’m pretty sure you owe me for getting you home last night, so who’s whose savior now?”

“Touché.” Sungyeol raises his arms in mock defeat. He drinks the last of his cola. Then he realises.

“Hey, you didn’t answer my question.”

 

 

<< 

                                                                                                                     

 

Myungsoo came back from crit with a smile.

“How was it?” Sungyeol asked.

“It was pretty good. The professors like the theme. They like the photos too.” Myungsoo plopped down next to Sungyeol.

“That’s good.”

“Hmm,” Myungsoo agreed. “But I had an interesting feedback from a fellow coursemate.”

“What did they say?” Sungyeol asked.

“Hmm, he said for an exhibition titled ‘Free to be (Limitless)’, I should have taken photos of people who fitted the stereotype too. Because just defying the stereotype is a pretty limited way to be limitless.”

Sungyeol thought it over. “That’s a good critique, actually.”

Myungsoo yawned, smiling. “I know.”

“Who said that?”

Myungsoo stretched his limbs, settling his head on Sungyeol’s shoulder. “Woohyun.”

 

 

>> 

 

 

Hoya walks with him to the bus stop.

“I’m fine, I can get home myself,” Sungyeol says.

“You still have a hangover,” Hoya mumbles, sliding his hands into his pockets. Sungyeol doesn’t comment.

Later, Hoya walks him all the way back up to his apartment. It’s weird, but Sungyeol doesn’t say anything until they’re outside his door.

“Okay, I’m home safely. You can go back now.”

Hoya hesitates, feet not moving. Sungyeol keys in his passcode. He’s sliding the lock down, when Hoya says –

“I didn’t notice you were the same person when I first saw you in Myungsoo’s photography studio. But later, when Myungsoo was showing me photos of you from your first year in college, I realised. I realised you were the same boy who... helped me in Busan years ago.”

Sungyeol keeps his back facing Hoya because he can’t think of an appropriate reply. He can’t see Hoya this way, which is why he doesn’t expect it when arms suddenly wrap around his waist. The embrace is loose enough that when Sungyeol turns around, Hoya’s arms drop back down by his side.

“Sorry, was that inappropriate?” Hoya looks awkward, which is probably the first time Sungyeol has seen him look that way with clothes on.

That’s probably not the best thing to think about, so Sungyeol just says, “Uh. I don’t know. Depends on what you were trying to do.”

Hoya flushes a little, almost imperceptible under his tan skin. “I… I didn’t tell you this when we were in college because I thought what I felt was just remnants of having you in my mind as somewhat of a hero since young, but… I think I kind of like you, as a person.”

The lock on Sungyeol’s door beeps. His apartment door has auto-locked itself. Sungyeol has to lick his lips before he can speak. “You… don’t know me that well, as a person.”

“I’ve seen some,” Hoya says. Then, a little more hesitantly, he adds, “Will you let me get to know you more?”

Sungyeol can say a lot of things. He can point out that he’s a beta. He can point out that he’s still not entirely over Myungsoo even if he’s starting to be a little more okay than he was last night. He can point out that he might not meet whatever expectations Hoya has of him. But in the end, what Sungyeol says is, “Do you... want to come in for a cup of coffee?”

Hoya smiles.

"Yeah."

**Author's Note:**

> This started because I wanted to explore omegaverse, stereotypes and prejudices. I have a lot of thoughts about omegaverse and did a bunch of research before but I never actually sat down to write one until the idea of Hoya as an omega who doesn't fit omega stereotypes (and fights it actually) came and wouldn't leave until I wrote things down. I actually have a lot more I didn't explore but I hope to eventually do that in a second oneshot. For now, there's cookie crumbs of Hoya and his struggle with his omega-hood sprinkled in this fic, although they don't culminate in a conclusion since this fic is Sungyeol-centric. 
> 
> With that said, though omega!Hoya was the starting point of this fic, beta!Sungyeol is the focus of this fic, and his many insecurities and self-confidence issues sneaked its way in very fast. I thought him being beta in an a/b/o world where people pay more attention to alphas and omegas, treating betas as just "normal people" would be an interesting angle, especially since most a/b/o fics have an omega (or an alpha) as its center character (/narrator). 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the fic, and I'll love to know what you think. Feel free to talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/cian1675) about omegaverse in general too! I have a lot more thoughts I'll love to discuss but I don't want to overload this note.


End file.
